What a name change costs, and how long it takes
Every fee in a US name change, added up from the agencies’ own published figures. Most of it is free; the parts that are not are the certified copies, your state license, and your passport.
Most of a name change is free.
Social Security charges nothing, voter registration is free in every state that registers voters, and there is no IRS fee because there is no IRS form.
The state driver license fee is the main variable.
Georgia and New Hampshire and Pennsylvania charge nothing for the name change itself.
Among the states that do charge, the range runs from $3.00 in North Dakota to $46.00 in California.
The median among the states we verified is $16.75.
Certified copies are the other real cost, and you want at least three of them.
The passport is the largest single item unless your dates put you on the free form.
Every fee in the sequence
| What | Value | Source | Checked |
|---|---|---|---|
| Social Security | Free Social Security never charges for a card, and your number does not change. | Form SS-5 | |
| Driver license or state ID | $3.00 – $46.00 Set by your state. 3 charge nothing at all. Verified in 29 of the 51 jurisdictions. | Fees by state | |
| Certified copies | $6.00 – $34.00 each State-level offices only. Where records sit with a county, each county sets its own and no statewide figure exists. | Certified copies | |
| Passport | Free on form DS-5504 if you qualify. Otherwise the State Department’s current fee applies, and DS-11 carries a second execution fee on top. | Current passport fees | |
| Voter registration | Free Free in every state that registers voters. North Dakota does not register voters at all. | vote.gov | |
| IRS | Free There is no name-change form for an individual, so there is nothing to pay. | IRS — name changes | |
| Banks, insurers, utilities | Almost none of them publishes anything about cost. Where one does — JetBlue charges $50 to change a booking made through a travel agency — the company’s own page says so. | What companies require |
The state license fee, cheapest first
| State | Fee | Checked |
|---|---|---|
| Georgia | Free | |
| New Hampshire | Free | |
| Pennsylvania | Free | |
| North Dakota | $3.00 | |
| Illinois | $5.00 | |
| Nevada | $8.50 | |
| Indiana | $9.00 | |
| Iowa | $10.00 | |
| South Carolina | $10.00 | |
| New Jersey | $11.00 | |
| Texas | $11.00 | |
| Arizona | $12.00 | |
| New York | $12.50 | |
| Wisconsin | $14.00 | |
| Alaska | $15.00 | |
| Kentucky | $15.00 | |
| North Carolina | $16.75 | |
| District of Columbia | $20.00 | |
| Virginia | $20.00 | |
| Washington | $20.00 | |
| Vermont | $24.00 | |
| Florida | $25.00 | |
| Oklahoma | $25.00 | |
| Rhode Island | $28.50 | |
| Ohio | $29.00 | |
| Connecticut | $30.00 | |
| Maryland | $30.00 | |
| Colorado | $34.00 | |
| California | $46.00 |
States that publish no single figure are not listed here. They appear on the full state index with the blank shown honestly.
How long the whole thing takes
| What | Value | Source | Checked |
|---|---|---|---|
| Certified copies | Same day in person; weeks by mail Varies by county — their own pages quote the current wait. Nothing else can start until these arrive. | — | — |
| Social Security | Record first, card follows by mail The record itself updates in a day or two, which is what the DMV checks — you don’t wait for the plastic card. | — | — |
| Driver license | Temporary at the counter, card by mail Most states hand over a temporary document the same visit; where the agency publishes a wait, your state sheet quotes it. | — | — |
| Passport | Several weeks Check current processing times before booking travel. Your passport goes with the application. | State Department | — |
| Everyone else | One batch of letters These run in parallel once you hold ID in the new name — send them together and let the confirmations come back. | — | — |
Questions about cost
- How much does it cost to change your name?
- The government agencies are mostly free — Social Security, voter registration and the IRS all charge nothing. What you actually pay for is certified copies of your document, your state driver license fee, which runs from $3.00 in North Dakota to $46.00 in California, and your passport if you hold one.
- Is changing your name at Social Security free?
- Yes. Social Security never charges for a card and your Social Security number does not change.
- Which state has the cheapest name change?
- Georgia and New Hampshire and Pennsylvania charge nothing at all for the name change itself. Of the states that do charge, North Dakota is the lowest at $3.00.
- Do I have to pay a court?
- Not if a marriage, a decree that restores a former name, or an order you already hold authorized the change. A court petition is a separate process with its own filing fee, and it is not one we handle.
Everything above is free. The paperwork itself is the work.
You can do all of this yourself with the links on this page — every underlying form is free. What we sell is the evening back: the official forms filled in from your answers, the steps in the order that works, and a written letter for every bank, employer and insurer you have to tell.
Two questions about your situation first, because there is one answer that means we can’t help — and we would rather tell you that before you pay than after.
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